10/27/10

I'm pretty sure Garbage Pail Kids triggered my downfall. Up until I laid eyes on the first "Greaser Greg" card, I was a relatively normal and easy going human being (albeit 7 years old). But the GPK's and their numbered checklists and variant versions and multiple series kicked off an internal obsessiveness that lead to harder stuff (i.e. comic books, horror movies, pro wrestling). Maybe it was in me all along, but I could no longer simply enjoy something for what it was, as now everything that was even sort of interesting required massive amounts of research and comparison. This is an affliction doctors currently refer to as "Hardcore Nerdism."

"Hey Rip, what do you think of this new song?"

"Well, I've only listened to it and haven't had a chance to Google the artist, so how the hell would I even know?"

God damn you, Garbage Pail Kids.

I'm pretty sure I first notice Skinner do something like this, painting a monster onto an old family portrait. The idea of adding a bizarre element to something relatively normal seemed so cool, and as I was looking over the empty space of the original version of the portrait, my brain instantly superimposed the Garbage Pail Kids logo Homeboy was thiiiis close to being named "Beardy Bartholemew" but Whiskery Winston had two less letters, so laziness prevailed (DaVinci was notorious for this sort of thing).